Description or summary of the book: The towering composer who perfected the early symphonic form and invented the modern string quartet also left his indelible mark on the sonata. During 50 years of inspired creative effort, Haydn experimented constantly with the sonata form, adding a clear thematic structure to the tonal design inherited from earlier composers.This comprehensive new playing edition contains 52 sonatas by the master - a treasury of keyboard compositions in which echoes of the baroque and harbingers of romanticism blend with the lucidity and elegance of 18th-century classicism. Here is a remarkably convenient and reliable presentation of more than 50 of Haydn's efforts in the form, from the early divertimento-like sonatas to the masterworks of the later years, culminating in the sublime Sonata No. 52 in E-flat Major.Reprinted in two volumes from an authoritative Breitkopf & Hartel edition, the sonatas are arranged in a chronological sequence based on recent scholarship. Extremely clear and readable, with ample space for notes, this Dover edition is a must for serious pianists, students, and music lovers in general. It is an excellent, inexpensive means to study and savor the inventive daring, freedom, and mastery that Haydn brought to the piano sonata.